The Song Still Sung
by Shadsie
Summary: Link and Zelda danced. They danced to the song the Hero played upon his ancestor's treasure. Mystic notes of time and space brought them to a world ruled by guns where they were destined to join an outlaw-hero on his quest for peace.
1. Bring a Sword to a Gunfight

_**Disclaimer:**__ The Legend of Zelda and its characters belong to Nintendo. Trigun and its characters belong to Mr. Yasuhiro Nightow. We know Mr. Nightow likes LoZ (the omake for Trigun Maximum vol. 7)!_

_**Notes:**__ I decided to attempt this crossover just because I can. In other words, I'm doing this to be weird. These two properties are among the things I enjoy most in the world. As weird as this combo is, the more I thought about it, the more similarities between them I saw: Villains originally bent on saving their peoples, but bent to conquest and/or genocide, determined blond heroes who are supernaturally gifted with weapons… That, and I wanted to explore the idea of a swordsman thrown into a world of guns. The settings are as follows: For Trigun – anime universe with a few manga elements. For LoZ – Twilight Princess with some mentions of elements from other games. Both are slightly alternate universe, as necessary and natural to a crossover plot. _

_Thanks go out to Sailor Lilithchan for certain ideas and to Sergeant Conley, who indicated that this crazy idea might actually get readers. _

* * *

The flow of time is always cruel…its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it. _ Sheik, Ocarina of Time

In the far future… in a place that has yet to be seen…the song of humanity we all know…will continue to be sung. _ End of Trigun Maximum.

* * *

**THE SONG STILL SUNG **

**A Legend of Zelda/Trigun Crossover by Shadsie**

**Chapter 1: Bring a Sword to a Gunfight**

His boots upon the steps left echoes in the cavernous hall. He followed his sovereign through a portion of Hyrule Castle dutifully and guards saluted them as they passed. His sword and shield were strapped upon his back, heavy but comfortable. Link had planned to head to the Sacred Grove soon to return the Master Sword to its rightful place. He was reluctant to do so, for he felt bonded to it, as if it were a dear old friend. He wanted to be sure that Hyrule was at peace before following the tradition of leaving it to sleep until it was needed again by another hero or sage.

When he entered darkened areas, the blade still glowed with a faint light, the residue of his acceptance by the people and gods of another world…

Princess Zelda opened the door to a small, stone-walled chamber and beckoned Link inside. She closed the door behind her. She turned to him and smiled sweetly. "We are here, alone. There is something I wanted to show you alone, Hero."

Link's own face was downcast. It was hard for him to look the princess in the eye. She had beautiful eyes, but every time he looked to them, he remembered eyes that were more exotic. It had not been long since the goodbye and the deep sense of loss was still fresh. He had not even gone back to his hometown to rest and Princess Zelda was insistent upon showing him some treasure. He was honor-bound to humor her.

She went to a desk upon which a little ornately decorated wooden chest rested. She delicately opened the lid and drew something from it. She took Link by the hand and placed that something into it.

"The ocarina…" he whispered. "The one I took from the tomb at the Shade's behest. The crack that was in it is gone."

"Yes," Zelda said. "That is the Ocarina of Time, once the property of my ancestor, and once the property of the Hero of Time."

"My ancestor," Link said. "I felt really weird taking it, but his ghost asked me to. I can't imagine that it has its legendary power anymore, since it was broken."

"That is what I wanted to find out," Zelda explained. "I poured a sacred spell into repairing it, but I imagine that if it has any of its ancient powers left, that they would manifest themselves through the touch of the Hero."

"I…" Link began, "I've never played flute before. I can whistle on grass, and people tell me that I have a fine singing voice. As a wolf, I had a very nice howl, but this… I can try, princess, but I fear I would do dishonor to my ancestor."

"Try," Zelda said, touching his hand gently. "Try something simple, like a tune you would whistle on grass."

Link took a deep breath and put the Ocarina of Time to his lips gently. He tried replicating the song he used to call hawks when he wanted to practice falconry. He felt strange and wonderful. New notes came to him and flowed through him. He played a song that reminded him of the Gerudo Desert, then one that felt like the flow of Time itself. He somehow flowed into a song that was lively and increased in tempo as he played. He began to dance in a circle and Zelda was inspired to dance as well. As if caught in a trance, she reached out and took him by the shoulder and hip and spun with him, around and round the room. She closed her eyes and felt that she could dance until her breath ran out.

Then she felt her foot slip on the floor, as if it was slipping in sand. She fell and felt a body fall on top of her. She opened her eyes and everything was bright. Sunlight was hot on her cheeks. When did they get outside? She shifted herself up and found Link lying against her in tawny sand, face down and motionless.

"Link!" she cried shaking him.

"Mwwa?" he moaned, sitting up. "What happened?"

"You tell me," Zelda said uneasily, looking at their surroundings. She stood up. Link got to his feet.

The Hero looked around himself. They were standing in the middle of a grand plain, sand and tawny dirt all around. Off in the distance were mountains, as dull-colored as the earth until they became blue like the sky beyond the horizon. There was a very strange, craggy formation up ahead, the silhouette of an enormous object.

"It looks like the Gerudo Desert," Link said, "but it's different somehow." He looked down at his shadow and at the one Zelda cast. "The shadows aren't quite right."

"They look normal to me," the princess replied.

"They aren't quite right," Link re-iterated. "I've sort of… gotten used to noticing shadows. Something about the light is off from normal."

His eyes trailed up to the sky and he immediately regretted it. He winced and clapped a hand over his eyes.

"No one's supposed to look at the sun!" Zelda exclaimed.

"Suns," Link said. "Not like I meant to… but suns… I'm pretty sure there's two of them."

"Two? Are you sure you aren't dazed?"

Link took his hand from his face and blinked rapidly. "Oh, there you are," he said, smiling. "No… something is off here."

"There is a carriage approaching us, but it is not being pulled by beasts."

"What, princess?"

A large, wheeled vehicle thundered through the dust. Zelda and Link watched stunned.

"I do not know this magic," Zelda said. "There's never been a need for it."

"I've seen floating platforms… the Twilight Realm made great use of them, but this thing looks like it's purely mechanical."

"It smells like it's burning something," Zelda commented.

The wheeled vehicle screeched to a halt. Its doors came open and three men in strange clothing stepped out of it.

"Ya two lost?" one of them asked. Somehow, Link knew that he was not speaking Hylian, yet he understood his words perfectly.

"What're goin' to some kinda geek-convention?" one of the others laughed.

"N-no," Link said. Something about these people made him uneasy. It wasn't their clothing, as strange as it was. It seemed similar to Kakariko-style, actually.

The third of the men pointed an object at them. "We'd be happy to give you a ride," he said gruffly. "You look young. Heart an' liver will fetch a nice price on the underground market. As for the lady, well, we'll have a little fun with her."

Zelda gasped. Effortlessly, Link slipped the Master Sword from its scabbard and took the shield off his back. "You would not _dare_ touch the sovereign Princess of Hyrule!" he growled.

"Princess of Hyrule? Huh? No matter. Have it your way," the large person said, firing his pistol. As he fired, his companions brought out their own weapons – a pistol and rifle respectively. The bullet bounced off Link's shield. His eyes were wide. He'd never seen anything like this before… they were obviously brandishing weapons, but handheld canons?

He spun and dodged as more ammunition came for him. One of the men grabbed Zelda. She fought, cranked his arm behind him until it cracked and threw him to the ground. The skinniest of the three men grabbed her from behind and put a knife to her throat.

Then he found the knife wrested from his hand, which suddenly lacked fingers. He found himself face to face with an angry young man holding a bloody sword. "Laramie!" he cried, staggering back, gripping his mangled hand. Link acted quickly, turning on the man that had come up behind him, sweeping the Master Sword for his middle. Laramie avoided being gutted by a hair. The belt of his pants came loose, sliced neatly. He tripped in the sand on his fallen pants.

"Never bring a sword to a gunfight, kid," the last of the men, the big one, said before firing off a shot. Link rolled and came face to face with him. Thrusting the Master Sword forward, he punched two neat holes into each of the bandit's shoulders with the tip. The man dropped his weapon and fell to the ground, moaning.

The two other men scrambled to their feet, including the one who had to pull up his trousers. They jumped back into their wagon and drove off.

"Hey! Wait, you cowards!" the fallen man screamed. Link held his sword up and was panting over him.

"Link?" Zelda asked. Link did not answer her. He stood staring at the man at his feet.

"You wanted to hurt her," Link said coldly. "I cannot allow that to happen."

"Please don't kill me!"

Several things happened in that moment. The man's eyes went wide, filled with the terror of death. Link raised the Master Sword high above his head and prepared to strike downward in a clean, life-ending stab. Zelda sensed the malice of the moment and raised her hands, pouring all of her mystic energy into one act, an act that had her, in a rare twist, communicating with the soul of the sword.

_The Hero Chosen by the Goddesses has the mandate of destroying that which is truly evil. He is to kill the world's true monsters and beings that are corrupted beyond redemption. He is to use death to free souls of beings hopelessly trapped within corruption. However, many beings are merely a mix between good and evil – humans and the Hylian sub-race are among these. To kill one's own kind is always a tragedy. The Hero is permitted to do so in defense of his own person and in defense of innocent beings, as due the honor entrusted to him. _

_To kill an innocent person or one who has already been rendered defenseless and not a threat is an act that will corrupt the Hero. He will become his dark side. If he reaches such a state and is not destroyed, you will forever wish he had been… _

_The Master Sword should never become bathed in blood from a dishonorable fight…_

Zelda remembered watching Link's fight with Ganondorf. Link had taken a lucky advantage to slay him, but Ganondorf was different. Ganondorf was the legendary demon-king, the King of Evil. She had prayed for his soul as she did for all who fell in her kingdom, but his death was a definitive matter. He was that which the Goddesses had drafted Link to put an end to. The human at his feet was not so. Zelda could feel the aura of his bad character on the air, but there was still the spark of humanity in him.

And if Link killed him right now, the Hero would be tipped into becoming a villain.

Zelda took a deep breath, concentrating her energy. "Strike the ground!"

The Master Sword struck the ground just shy of the bandit's head. He cried and scrambled to his feet, no small task for a man with wounded shoulders. Zelda's nose wrinkled at a distinct intestinal smell on the air.

The man fled across the plain. The Master Sword shimmered in the dust, light glowing from its blade and curling around it. Link was slumped over it, on his knees, grasping the hilt.

"Oh, Link," Zelda said, crouching down beside him. "I am sorry, but I had to. I couldn't let you kill him. Your dark side would have won and you would have been consumed by it. I hope you understand."

Link did not answer her. He only panted, his head bent low and in shadow. Zelda noticed something dark tricking down his knees and into the sand. She gasped in horror and took the shield from his arm. "Link!"

He looked up at her with a sweat-slicked face. "It feels… kind of like an arrowhead," he said.

He was bleeding from his middle, dark blood that covered the front of his tunic and trickled like a listless fount into the sand.

Gently, she took his hands off the Master Sword and put it back in its scabbard for him. Only he could wield it, but since she was good-hearted and a sacred person in her own right, Zelda was capable of handling it. She helped Link up and pressed a hand to his wound, trying to will some healing power into it. The princess had used most of her energy to force the sword into the ground.

"We need to find someone who can help you," Zelda said hopelessly as she looked around. "I have no idea where we are. The Ocarina of Time must have taken us beyond the borders of my kingdom."

"I'm…. really impressed," Link said as he limped along with her. "The power of the weapons those men had… Whatever I'm hit with… punched through my chain mail like it was butter, like I was wearing nothin' at all."

"Do you still have the Ocarina, Link? Perhaps it can get us back where we started. I'll have my head physician Galen take care of you."

"It's gone…Zelda. Vanished. Wherever we are, it didn't come with us."

"Stay with me."

The two limped along toward something Zelda spied in a gentle valley below them. She concentrated her energies on trying to keep her Hero reasonably out of pain so he could walk. His right arm was over her shoulder for support. She could feel the sweat through his sleeves. The scent of his blood was thick on the air – which reminded her of the air of a surgical ward for that reason. He was trying not to show it, but he was in dire shape. She wondered just how many times he'd been in a similar situation, traveling with Midna in seeking the Fused Shadows and the Twilight Mirror Shards. She wondered how often he got hurt saving friends and strangers. She felt a little guilty. She had only been there for him at the end… but she was here for him now, as little as she could do.

"I always wanted… to die in my village," Link said slowly, his voice breaking with effort.

"Don't talk like that," Zelda commanded.

"Old," he continued, "An old, old man… after seein' my grandchildren born. As the village leader, respected… with all the people I'd taken care of around me, wishing me a fond goodbye. Then I'd be buried out by the spring… But all that kind of changed, didn't it?"

"Save your strength, Link."

"But I'd always entertained the notion of dying doing something heroic, too," he said, "Even as a little kid. If I couldn't die old, I wanted to die defending somebody, helping somebody…"

"Link…"

"It was an honor to have served you, princess…"

"Link!"

He slipped off her and fell to the floorboards of someone's front porch. Zelda had made it to the thing she'd seen on the horizon and was looking at the door of a house. The door opened to a tall woman with long honey-blond hair.

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped.

"Please!" Zelda cried, "You've got to help him! He's hurt!"

"Meryl, Mr. Wolfwood, Mr. Vash! Get out here quick! I think we have another houseguest!"

* * *

Turn to the Next!

* * *

_I have notes and plans for this story, which I've been inspired to do since I've been re-watching the Trigun anime. I had the notion to do this a long time ago but didn't have the guts then to do more than a silly roleplay with friends that fizzled. I actually also had another Trigun crossover idea that makes a heck of a lot more sense (Firefly, someone please cross it over with Firefly!) but I didn't think I'd have a proper handle on all the characters. Besides, very often the internal "push" for my writing a fanfic is "I wanna do something weird!" I've done a Zelda Western before, so… might as well. _

_Don't take this as necessarily a "return to Trigun fandom." My participation in the Trigun online fan community was rocky once upon a time, and a lot of things being my own fault notwithstanding, I have very little desire to be a part of the serious-Trigun-fandom community again. The Legend of Zelda online fandom community, on the other hand, is something I've felt embraced by, and I've yet to do anything in my hangouts to screw it up, so it is easy for it to be first in my heart. _

_Although I have a general idea of where I want to go with this and even a nice outline scrawled in a notebook, I have no idea if I will actually go anywhere with this. You'll know if there's updates in the future. _


	2. Respective Legends

**THE SONG STILL SUNG**

**Chapter 2: Respective Legends **

Everything happened at once – a typhoon of activity. The woman with the honey-blond hair took Zelda by the hand and pulled her inside the little house. A tall man in a bulky red coat shouted and scooped Link up in his arms. A man in black clothes followed the man in red, protesting loudly.

"We don't know who these people are, Spiky!" he yelled. "They could be after you!"

"He's in no position to do anything now!" the man in red shot back. "He's bleeding badly. I have to treat him…. Have to try…."

The other man sighed. "I'll go get the surgical kit."

"Wait!" Zelda cried, trying to follow the man in the big coat and Link, who was wincing and grunting in his arms, "Do you have any potions? Is there a fairy spring around here?"

"Fairy spring?" the man said, turning around. "N-no. Don't worry, Miss, I'll take care of him, okay?"

The man's face was so sad and so sincere. He proceeded into a bedroom, followed by the man in black, who closed the door behind them. Zelda moved to follow them, but found herself held back by the blond woman's strong arms.

"You don't wanna go in there…" she said ominously.

Another woman had her hand on Zelda's arm. She was a short woman with black hair. "Milly is right," she said. "You don't want to see them work. It will upset you more."

"I know!" Milly said. "Do you like tea? Meryl makes the best Ceylon tea. My, that's a pretty dress you have."

"Th-thanks," Zelda said, following the pair into the kitchen. She sat down at the table shakily, listening warily with her long ears to the noises coming from the bedroom.

Milly took a fresh cup from the cupboard and poured Zelda a cup of steaming tea. The tall woman smiled and gently patted her hand. "Don't worry, Mr. Vash is very good. He has to dig bullets out of himself all the time!"

"That's not very reassuring, Milly," the woman who was previously identified as Meryl, chided.

"Oh, my!" Milly gasped, "We haven't introduced ourselves! I'm Milly Thompson and this is Meryl."

"Meryl Stryfe," Meryl added, "of the Bernardelli Insurance Society. And you are?"

Zelda set her teacup down upon the table and stood up tall. She was not quite as tall as Milly, but taller than Meryl. Her gaze and the way she stood conveyed to Meryl a sense of power. The small woman felt like she was being towered over.

"I am Princess Zelda Harkinian Nohansen Hyrule, Crown Princess of Hyrule, soon to be Queen officially and Hyrule's sovereign. If this is a border-kingdom my knight and I have landed in, I request that your leaders be notified immediately. May I ask what kingdom this is? Forgive me, but I haven't had the luxury of travel in recent years, and especially with the recent Twilight Crisis… Is this Holodrum? Or Labrynna? Don't say that this is Termina…."

"Huh?" Milly asked. "We haven't heard of any of those places…but you're a princess? That's amazing!"

Meryl groaned and smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Why is that while traveling with Vash we always run into the crazy ones?"

"You think I am mentally ill?" Zelda asked, sitting back down.

"We don't see a lot of princesses around here," Milly said. "My neighbor had a pony named Princess when I was a kid, but I think she's the only princess I've met! So do you have a lot of servants and get to live in a big castle?"

The vein on Meryl's forehead throbbed. "Milly…"

"I'd like to know where I am," Zelda said plainly.

Meryl sighed. "We're outside of New Philly on the boarder of the Salt Sand Sea."

"Mr. Vash insisted on coming out this way because he thinks there's something wrong with the city's Plant," Milly said. "He's been working as a Plant Engineer there for two weeks."

Confusion marked Zelda's features. "Vash…"

"Yes," Meryl said, her tone frustrated. "Milly had to give it away. We're hanging around with Vash the Stampede, so keep your mouth shut and you wont' get hurt. He's really an honorable guy once you get to know him. If you're here for his bounty, Mr. Wolfwood will probably hold your brother hostage until you forget about it."

"My brother?"

"Isn't that guy your brother?" Milly asked. "You've both got the same ears!"

"No," Zelda said. "Link is…. My friend. Sort of. He's the Hero who saved my kingdom. If he wishes, I wish to make him my personal knight. I still don't know where we are. I've never seen a desert like what's outside – it makes the Gerudo Desert look small…"

"Ger-u-do?" Milly asked.

"Nevermind," Zelda said with a shake of her head. "Everything's different here. We're obviously not home."

"Then where are you from?"

"Hyrule, as I've said."

"A mythical kingdom in your head does not count," Meryl scolded. "Where are you really from?"

Zelda's eyes narrowed in a rare expression of anger. "I said we come from Hyrule. If you are going to be so uncooperative, I will go to your leaders myself, once I learn that my friend is not dead. We were making use of a magical artifact and it dumped us here on an apparent whim of the Goddesses. If this is another kingdom or another dimension, I will find out."

Zelda leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Yeah… it feels… different here. Nayru, we are in another dimension? The future?"

Meryl and Milly both looked at her strangely.

"She's probably just exhausted from stress, Meryl," Milly said kindly. "Don't judge her too harshly. She looks scuffed up and her friend got shot."

"Maybe it is just stress," Meryl conceded.

The bedroom door opened and the man in black shambled out, putting a cigarette to his lips and lighting it.

"How is he, Mr. Wolfwood?" Meryl asked cautiously.

"Well, he ain't dead," Wolfwood answered. "You can see him, but he's asleep."

Zelda entered the bedroom cautiously. The man in red, "Vash," she'd learned, was seated in a chair beside the bed, facing away from it, slumped over in sleep. A steel tray rested on a small desk next to him and upon it, small, sharp instruments in little ribbons of blood. Another tray rested next to that one, filled with pink liquid. A half-empty bottle of clear liquor sat next to it. Link's sword and shield rested against the desk and all of his clothing, including his boots and hat, lay in a heap in a corner.

Link lay in the bed behind Vash, a sheet pulled up to his chest. His right arm was outside it, by his side and his left arm was rested over his torso. He breathed softly and his eyelids fluttered gently. Light from a window cast upon his face, showing how pale he was. The tan of his skin was like a light wash of watercolor over clean paper – not the usual, rich character that she was used to seeing.

"Oh, Link…" Zelda whispered, taking his left hand in her own. She placed her right hand over it, so that the marks of the Triforce they each had met. The Triforce of Wisdom mark glowed briefly and then returned to normal. In that moment, Zelda knew that he was dreaming about his home in Ordon – the forest and the handsome blue goats the people raised there. It was a peaceful dream.

_A dream you deserve_, she thought to herself.

She startled slightly as Vash stirred. He raised his head and rubbed at this spiky hair. "Oh, it's you," he said. "He's going to be alright… I think. I got the bullet out safely. I thought about leaving it in, but it was pressed up against something important, so it was best to risk taking it out. It missed everything vital, but he would have bled to death if he wasn't closed up."

"Thank you… Thank you so much, sir," Zelda said, rubbing Link's hand.

"It will take a while for his blood to rebuild. I know how nasty that can be – from experience actually." At this, Vash gave an odd little laugh, as though he was desperate to diffuse the sadness hanging in the air of the room. "I'm sure Milly will share some of her pudding for him to eat while he recovers. I tried to remove the…um… costume-ears, but…"

"They're real."

"Yeah, that. That's very strange… a shape like that. Are you two related?"

"No."

"Are you sure? That's got to be a rare genetic anomaly."

"I take it there are no Hylians in this kingdom. Where we come from, long ears are a noble birthright."

"I see."

Zelda and Vash looked at each other for a moment. Zelda was sure she sensed something, a sort of buzzing sensation. She could feel a distinct aura from this man – that he was not what he seemed to be. She sensed a lot of melancholy, confusion, humor, and deep, deep love – not so much of the romantic stripe as something expansive. The look he was giving her told her that he was someone who was used to "difference" – that, indeed, there was something "different" about him, and thus his acceptance of people who were different was fairly easy. He seemed confounded, but not nearly as put off by her appearance and presence as the others.

It was as though he knew instinctively that she and Link were from some other world but did not care in the least.

"He's going to sleep for a while. Wolfwood drugged him to make the surgery easier and to put him out of pain."

"He is dreaming."

"Nice dreams, I hope. So, what happened to you two?"

"Link and I… we were home… our home. We had uncovered an ancient artifact with dubious powers and were examining it. Actually, it was a musical instrument that belonged to Link's ancestor…."

"Do you mean this?" Vash asked. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small blue ocarina. It was cracked, the same crack that Zelda had previously repaired. He put it to his lips.

"No! Don't!" Zelda cried.

A few discordant toots and a warble. Vash smiled fondly and handed the Ocarina of Time to Zelda. "I'm kinda tone-deaf, actually," he said. "I never could play flute. I tried guitar a few times when I was drunk, and Wolfwood says I scare all the stray cats when I try to sing."

Zelda sighed in relief. If the thing had the power to transport her and Link to this other world, there was no telling what some random person playing it might do – but it was cracked, just as it was before. There, also, went her hopes for figuring out a quick return to Hyrule from… wherever this place was. As she held the instrument in her hands, she could tell that its magic was currently dead. She gently set it down atop Link's bloodstained clothing. She choked down the urge to cry. She was a princess, so she had to keep her decorum at all times.

"Link said that this disappeared, that it vanished."

"It's the darndest thing," Vash said. "I found it in my coat, just suddenly there. Felt the lump in my coat just as Milly found you two at the door."

"We found ourselves here," Zelda said bluntly, returning her attention to Vash. "Out in the middle of the desert over the hill out to the east. Three men came to us in a carriage of some manner. They wanted to take us – they seemed to want Link's organs for some reason and as for me…. It is not ladylike to talk of such things."

"I see," Vash said sadly. "Probably either an off branch of the Rodricks or the Del Marco gang. The Del Marcoes have been running close to this area of late. They do black market organ-trading for wealthy men who do not care about where transplants come from. And well… any women and children they are able to subdue they like to take for the slave market…Wolfwood and I have busted many of their caravans."

Zelda, trying not to show her lack of understanding of some of the concepts Vash talked about (transplanting organs?) continued her story. "They surrounded us and drew out these little hand-canons. Link fought them off. He's a brilliant swordsman."

"Hand-canons?" Vash questioned.

Zelda motioned with her right hand, pretending she was holding an invisible pistol.

"Oh, you mean this," Vash said, drawing his AGL ARMS Factory Longcolt from the holster on his belt.

"Theirs were different, but yes," Zelda said.

"You've never seen a gun before?" Vash asked incredulously.

"No," Zelda answered. "Not like that. I've seen canons, heavy artillery canons – but nothing handheld like that."

"You don't say," Vash said, "You really must be from another world, or a _really_ isolated little town at least. You didn't hit your head recently, did you?"

"Sir Vash, I am not crazy. These are matters of magic, obviously."

"Magic?"

"Please, believe me, Sir Vash," Zelda said. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my friend."

She reached out and touched his right hand. In that moment, time stood still. Their thoughts exchanged like electricity and ran in rapid pace. The Triforce of Wisdom connected with something inside of Vash and for a split second, Zelda knew who he was and where they were.

_No Man's Land. Planet Gunsmoke. Desert with small patches of terraforming by Geoplants. _

_Geoplant. A subspecies of the species "Plant" – living subjects used for power, lighting, water, heat, cooling, industry and fertility. That upon which the people of this world depend for survival. _

_We are all like raindrops falling from the sky… dried up by the heat of the sun. _

_Crash. The Big Fall. Rem. Rem, don't leave! Please don't leave us! _

_Elruhye… We are from Elruhye, like you, ancient one. Help us. Save us. _

_Millions of Knives. _

"_Vash the Stampede, wanted for Sixty-Billion Double Dollars Dead or Alive. The Humanoid Typhoon. The Angel of Death. Gentle Grim Reaper. Destroyer of July and Augusta. _

_Scars, so many scars. _

Zelda broke off the connection, taking her hand back and shaking her head vigorously. "I am dreadfully sorry!" she apologized. "I am not sure what happened."

"You come from a beautiful, green kingdom," Vash said, smiling. "I'd love to visit it someday."

* * *

Wolfwood was disturbed from his sleep. There were noises coming from the kitchen. At first he'd written it off as another one of Milly's late-night instant-flan cravings but the footsteps he heard were not quite loud enough to be hers.

"Rotten needle-noggin," he grumbled. At least Vash had let him have the bed to himself. The girls shared a room and Vash's room was now being occupied by the almost-dead kid with the weird elf ears and the self-proclaimed "princess." Vash and Milly seemed to like her, but he was with Meryl on this – she was clearly insane. Vash decided to take the living room couch. He didn't like the cigarette-smell of Wolfwood's room and he said that whenever they had to bunk together that Milly sometimes got… ideas. Whatever that meant.

He took the pistol on his nightstand – one of the many he usually kept in the Punisher, and crept toward the kitchen. The light was on.

"Broom-headed idiot, is that you?" he called out.

When he got no answer, he burst through the door with his gun drawn only to yell in shock. Everyone else in the house came running to the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Milly asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

Upon the table was another of Wolfwood's pistols, only completely dismantled, its parts resting atop it in a neat and organized fashion. A gun, carefully dissected. A plate rested near the gun-parts and upon it was a raw steak, thinly sliced. Sitting in a chair at the table was Link, clad only in his pants and a thick bandage wound around his middle. He had a little piece of steak-sashimi in his mouth. He looked up at Wolfwood like a confused puppy.

"What is going on here?" Wolfwood demanded. "That's one of _my_ guns all over the table! And that was _my_ steak! I was saving that! And why in Heaven's name are you eating it raw? Just what the Hell is going on here?"

Link slurped up the steak piece he was in the middle of eating, causing everyone else in the room to wince. "I'm very sorry. I had no idea it was yours. I figured out the puzzle to make the torches light in this room and then I went to that cold box and found the meat there. I was very hungry. I tend to crave meat whenever I get hurt… I didn't think this was the best place to start a fire, so… Well, let's just say I was put into a situation not long ago where I had to get used to eating everything raw, so it doesn't bother me. As for this…"

Link swiftly grabbed up the parts to Wolfwood's dismantled weapon and reassembled them. He held the unloaded gun in his left hand and looked at it proudly. Everyone's jaw dropped, except for Zelda's.

"How did you do that?" Milly gasped, "You're so good!"

Wolfwood stared. "That was the fastest time… I've seen anybody…"

Vash blinked.

Zelda came up behind Link and touched his shoulders. She smiled proudly. "The _'gun'_ is a weapon, correct? My Link here has a rather special connection to weapons. Even a weapon he has never seen before, upon touching it, he can gain an intimate knowledge of how it works. It is an ability that seems to be passed down to the Heroes of our land."

"I found it out here on the table and wanted to see how it worked, so I took it apart," Link said humbly. "I hope I have not caused you too much trouble."

"You should get back in bed," Vash said. "I'm glad to see you apparently feeling better, but you really shouldn't be up yet. You shouldn't be eating steak either. I'll bring you some pudding. You shouldn't strain yourself."

"This from a man who's checked out of every clinic he's ever been in early," Meryl said, exasperated.

"I was saving this to make bell peppers and beef," Wolfwood moaned, examining the remains of his half-gone steak.

Vash helped Link up and out of the room. A few minutes later, a flushing sound was heard.

"My Din! Zelda, you've got to come in here and see this! It's like a little whirlpool!"

"Looks like Mr. Vash showed him to the bathroom!" Milly chimed.

"Let me guess," Meryl groaned, looking to Zelda. "No indoor plumbing where you live?"

Zelda did not quite know what to say.

* * *

TURN TO THE NEXT!

* * *

_There actually is nothing particularly special going on with the Ocarina of Time here. I was going over this chapter and looking in on the last chapter when I realized I'd forgotten about it vanishing in the last chapter. I had already written Vash trying to play it and enjoyed that image, so I had to come up with a quick excuse for it being there. _


End file.
